Affordable Care Act
Beyond the ‘Private Option’ for Medicaid Expansion
AP Chad Latch with his daughter Ruby Latch, in their home in North Little Rock, Arkansas, is among more than 210,000 low-income residents who became eligible for health insurance under the state’s “private option” model for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Other GOP states are asking for variations on the same theme. (AP) […]
A Quarter of Latinos Are Uninsured
© Rollie Hudson As patient access manager at La Clinica del Pueblo in Washington, D.C., William Joachin helps Latino immigrants access health care. One in four Latinos living in the U.S. does not have health insurance. In the “sala de espera,” or waiting room, at La Clinica del Pueblo, a community health center in Washington, […]
A New Look at Why Surgical Rates Vary
© AP Using a robotic arm and computer screen display, Dr. Thomas Pevny, left, performs a partial knee replacement on a patient at Aspen Valley Hospital in Aspen, Colo. in 2012. Knee replacement surgery is one of the procedures that the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice says varies widely in the rate […]
Osteopathic Medicine Meshes With New Health Care Needs
© AP Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones and sculptor Brandon Crandall unveil a bronze bust in April of physician Andrew Taylor Still, a Missourian who founded osteopathic medicine in the 19th century. The number of licensed osteopathic physicians, who practice patient-centered care that meshes with the Affordable Care Act, has increased five-fold since 1970. (AP) […]
Health Insurance and Death Rates
Valerie Spain of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was able to find insurance through the Massachusetts health care law, which was a model for the Affordable Care Act. A recent study found that the death rate in Massachusetts declined as more people gained health insurance. (AP) The mortality rate in Massachusetts declined substantially in the four years after […]
A Chance To Prevent Illness
Nurse practitioner Ruth Wiley examines Elizabeth Knowles at a Walgreens clinic in Indianapolis. Walgreens provides a number of preventive health services, many of which are now provided free under the new federal health care law. (AP) The 13 million Americans who are newly enrolled in health insurance are now eligible for preventive health services, such […]
States Enroll Former Foster Youth in Medicaid
Jose Antonio Machado, 18, cooks pasta at his home in Miami. Machado was placed in a foster home in 2011 when his mother, an unauthorized immigrant, was deported. Nationwide, 26,000 youths are “emancipated” from foster care every year. The Affordable Care Act requires states to provide Medicaid coverage for these former foster youths until their […]
Managing Diabetes with Telemedicine
TWEET THIS FACT SEE FULL STATELINE INFOGRAPHIC Diabetes afflicts more than 22 million Americans, or 7 percent of the total population, and the number of people diagnosed every year is skyrocketing. At a cost of $245 billion in 2012, the disease’s toll on the economy has increased by more than 40 percent since 2007, according […]
Nearly 4 Million Seriously Mentally Ill Still Without Insurance
Community–based mental health facilities, like the Riverwood Centers in Minnesota that helped Bruce Echelberry, above, through depression, are facing public funding cuts and closures. Some low-income patients still needing mental health care will be covered by states, including Minnesota, that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. (AP) Some might consider Kelly Troyer of South […]
Next Steps for States and ACA
Models hand out stickers and juice at a mall in Denver, encouraging people to get health coverage under the ACA. States that ran their own exchanges already are making plans for next year’s enrollment, which starts Nov.15 and runs until February 15, 2015. (AP) DENVER – Like other states that opted to run their own […]
‘Private Option’ for Medicaid Expansion Would Cut Some Benefits
Protesters calling for Medicaid expansion are arrested for disrupting the Georgia state Senate in Atlanta. Many of the 24 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act are considering using federal dollars to help people purchase private insurance. (AP) When Arkansas won federal approval to use Medicaid expansion dollars to help low-income […]
Q&A: How States are Tackling ‘Health Disparities’
A customer considers buying whole grain tortillas at the Indiana Food Market in Philadelphia, Penn. Some convenience stores in disadvantaged areas of the city are participating in an effort to help residents eat healthier. Many states are taking steps, such as expanding access to healthy food, to eliminate health disparities between different populations. (AP) African-Americans […]